How to Survive a Juice Cleanse

One of the best things about our lives is that we eat for a living. We travel the country for Unique Sweets eating the best desserts each city has to offer, and then we get sent to Manhattan to get made up all purty and talk about what we ate on camera. We sip cocktails at some of the best and most innovative watering holes in the world, and even get to banter with the brilliant bartenders slinging those libations. Before you think we’re bragging, let’s talk about: our muffin tops, dresses that don’t fit, and a general feeling of malaise that comes with eating like you mean it. It’s not all sunshine and cupcakes.

So after our final trip for this season of Unique Sweets — currently airing Sunday nights at 10:30pm ET — Georgia decided that the best way to get back into the swing of things was a good ol’ juice cleanse. (Note: we live in L.A. Can you tell?)

Those in the know claim that a juice cleanse is a great way to rid your body of toxins, lose a few pesky pounds of belly fat, and get back on track with your normal healthy eating/working-out lifestyle. Sounded like just what was needed. After plenty of research, and one failed day of managing her own juice cleanse using her Vitamix, Georgia decided to go with the three day Foundation cleanse from BluePrint Cleanse. After getting through the cleanse, here are a few of Georgia’s tips:

1. Get Excited
Go ahead, hype it up. Going into a juice cleanse dreading every drink and planning for failure is a self fulfilling prophecy. Tell your friends all about the cleanse so you have someone to get excited with, and also someone to own up to… also so that they know not to invite you out to your favorite burger place on day two.

2. Don’t Beat Yourself Up
As much as I would like to tell you that I followed through with the juice cleanse exactly as planned and shunned food for the entire three days, I’d be lying. I’m not a liar. By mid afternoon on days one and two I was STARVING. Instead of giving in and eating the entire contents of the fridge, I had the foresight to know that this might happen, and therefore had made a batch of quinoa the day before. After half a cup of the protein-rich seed, I was back on track. By day three I wasn’t jonesing for quinoa, but it was nice knowing it was there — just in case.

3. Pay Attention To Your Mind & Body
Okay, so you slipped up and had that half a cup of quinoa…or maybe it was a slice of cheese or your roommates leftover Chinese food. Whatever. Keep going with the cleanse! After a lifetime of eating, completely shunning the enjoyable act of CONSUMING FOOD — even for a couple of days — is hard. Discipline takes practice, and quitting the cleanse completely for one slip up is like punishing yourself. Instead, acknowledge your slip up, and use it as a tool to understand your eating patterns and triggers. I learned that every time I leave the house, the first thought that pops into my mind is “what am I going to get to eat while I’m out?” Now I can pay attention to that thought instead of just blindly following through with it.

It’s taken me gaining and then losing ten+ pounds in the last couple years to really understand moderation and how to take care of myself in this business of food. I’ve also learned that there’s no easy fix, and that being healthful is a lifelong effort. Eating healthy isn’t a default for me, though, so this juice cleanse was a great way to refocus my eating habits from all gluttony, all the time, to being more mindful and self aware.

Also: I bet the beet juice would be great in a nice gin cocktail. What, is that bad?